How do you git to the git? With some blues n’ some grit, some pain, some spit n’ some SPUNK!
Saving the best for last, the musical play, “Spunk” was performed at the Dillard University Theatre April 8-11. Written by Zora Neale Hurston and adapted for stage by George C. Wolfe, “Spunk” tells the story of three tales that celebrate the human spirit’s ability to overcome and endure. Spunk is one of Hurston’s stories that launched her career.
The actual story is about a confident man who steals a weaker man’s wife, and how the death of the husband seeks for revenge.
In the three tales that develop the play, Spunk showed Hurston’s lyrical writing, which is full of life and vivid characters and display a sense of country-born southern blacks. The play revealed admiration and criticism because of the scenes and conflicts that stirred stereotypes.
After Hurston’s death, George C. Wolfe stepped in to create a simple but tasteful structure for Hurston’s stories. Directing award-winning plays, “Angels in America: Millennium Approaches” and “The Colored Museum”, Wolfe helped “Spunk” turn into yet another stunning success.
“Spunk” which is known as a musical, consisted of half a dozen songs written by Chic Street Man.
“I’m excited about doing something from Hurston and I think that this marks the play of the anniversary,” said Gary Hyatt, Dillard University’s theatre manager.
The three tales include “Sweat”, a story about a long-suffering washerwoman who finally gives her husband his comeuppance, “Story in Harlem Slang”, a comic skit of some Harlem hustlers, and “The Gilded Six Bits”, a story about a tender loving husband who must learn to forgive the young wife who betrayed him.
Being the first Zora Neale Hurston piece presented from Dillard, “Spunk” was directed by Andrea Frye who also directed the award winning play, “A Raisin in the Sun.”
Derrick Deal, who starred as a leading role in A Raisin in the Sun, appeared as three different characters in Spunk.
Along with Deal, the cast included Corey Cantrell, Bianca Chapman, Danielle Edinburgh, Gabrielle Guss and Kelly Henton.
“Ms. Frye and the cast have done a wonderful job working on this piece,” Hyatt said.
With Hurston’s reminiscent prose, Wolfe’s unique theatrical style blend, and Frye’s energetic dedication and direction, this musical celebration was definitely a sell out.
Many students are just as eager as the cast director to see how the theatre will end its ten years of theatrical excellence. Freshman Vinnika Johnson said, “Dillard’s Theatre seems to raise the bar higher and higher each time I attend one of their plays.”
